Unsung Heroes of the Games Industry: UX Specialists

Do you want to help make games for a living? This feature series explores some of the roles you may not have considered.

By
Dan Staines

It’s easy to forget how much work goes into making a video game, particularly the AAA kind. We tend to associate games with one or two visionaries – the Miyamotos, the Levines, the Kojimas – while overlooking the dozens, sometimes hundreds, of men and women who strive daily to implement their vision.

In this multi-part feature, we shine a light on the forgotten, the overlooked – the unsung heroes. Drawing on the expertise of over a dozen experienced developers, we get an insider’s overview of five vital but seldom celebrated roles in game development. We find out what makes these roles so important, what it’s like to work in one, and what it takes, skills and knowledge-wise, to obtain one.

What does a UX specialist do?

You’ve probably heard of UX before, but chances are you don’t know exactly what it entails. The reason is that UX is a nebulous umbrella discipline encompassing a diversity of specialties across the entire spectrum of game development. “Depending on their area of expertise, UX specialists can do very different things,” explains Celia Hodent, UX specialist at Epic Games. “When it comes to videogames, the goal of UX specialists is mainly to make sure that the designers’ vision carries over to what’s experienced by players.”

UX is the dividing line between clunkiness and clarity. UX specialists are the ones who ensure that games install effortlessly, that menus are easy to read and navigate, and that feedback – be it in the click of a button or high-pitched beep of a mini-nuke about to explode – is immediate and instructive. The difference between games that prioritise UX and games that don’t is evident in the history of gaming itself, and especially in the growth of illustrious, long-running series like Final Fantasy, FIFA, and Fallout. Whether Fallout 4 is a better game than the first Fallout is debatable, but it’s painfully clear which of the two is easier to understand, navigate, and enjoy. That’s UX.

They're both equally amusing in a darkly comic way, mind you.

“You know how you're sometimes playing a game and then you get a menu or screen where you have no idea what you're supposed to do, and then you make a face?” asks Caryn Vainio, UX designer at VREAL. “Well my job is to make sure you don't make that face.”

What's it like being a UX specialist?

The daily routines of UX specialists evolve as projects progress and priorities change. “Early in development, for example, a persona methodology can be used to define who the target audience is and what their expectations are,” says Hodent. “This methodology helps the publishing, marketing, and development teams get on the same page. It also allows the development team to realise more concretely who they are developing the game for and what experience they want to offer.”

As the game begins to take shape in the form of playable prototypes, the focus shifts to user testing with a target audience. Some game elements – like the HUD and in-game iconography – can be tested very early for their ability to convey important information to the player. “The more the game progresses, the more tools we can use,” says Hodent. “Once the game is in a playable state, we invite players into our UX lab to sit down and play. This helps us to identify unintentional friction points, such as an interface that makes it difficult to accomplish an action.”

UX isn't a layer you can put on the project after the game design work has been done; to make good UX, you need to design it simultaneously with the game. - Caryn Vainio

According to Vainio, UX design work ideally begins at the very start of development and should continue apace with the rest of the game. “The earlier you can get UX design working together with game design, the better the collaboration between the two will be,” she explains. “UX isn’t a layer you can put on the project after the game design work has been done; to make good UX, you need to design it simultaneously with the game.”

Because UX is intimately enmeshed in all aspects of the development process, UX designers are often required to work to the same punishing schedules as their colleagues in other departments. Both Hodent and Vainio agree that crunching is a necessary evil for UX specialists, but for Vainio the occasional stress spikes are more than offset by the varied and rewarding work she pursues on a daily basis.

“When I'm working on the aesthetics, I'm sketching concepts and then creating art assets in Photoshop and bringing them into [our games]. When I'm prototyping new interactions or creating new UI, I'm using Unity and writing a lot of C# script and then putting on my VR headset to test it out. If I'm storyboarding UX flows, I'm doing a lot of sketching, note taking, and research. It's a pretty varied job, which is one of the things I like about it.”

How can I become a UX specialist?

Although there are a number of UX-focused degrees available from various institutions, there are no formal requirements for being a UX specialist. For Hodent, who has a doctorate in psychology from the Sorbonne in Paris, “a good understanding of the human mind, and how humans interact with the environment” is crucial.

“Knowledge of human factors and human-computer interaction is very important to have,” she says. “As far as games are concerned, UX specialists need to know usability guidelines and understand what makes a game engaging and enjoyable. That means understanding human motivation, emotion, and game flow.”

“If you’re looking to do UX design, you’ll want to hone a few key skills,” adds Vainio. “Storyboarding – the ability to convey what the user experience to be in a way that your peers can understand and empathise with – is a must. Task-mapping is also important. You need to be able to break down a desired goal for the player into understandable chunks and translate it into UI and UX elements.”

We're not here to distort artistic vision or the designer's intent; we're here to help developers achieve their goals. - Celia Hodent

Although UX specialists are not required to be artists or game designers in their own right, an aptitude for sketching, wireframing, and prototyping is also desirable. “You need some way of turning your ideas into prototypes that can demonstrate the desired user experience,” continues Vainio. “That might be paper prototypes, or maybe simple "hotspot" prototypes that let you add interactivity to mockups that you can string together, or it might be building working UI in a game engine like Unity or Unreal. It depends on what's needed.”

But perhaps the most important quality of a UX designer – one stressed by both Hodent and Vainio – is the ability to communicate and work well within a team. For UX to succeed, coordination is key. Designers, programmers, artists, and UX specialists all need to be on the same page, all aiming for the same goal: an optimal user experience.

“The role of a UX specialist is to provide everyone with tools and information so each team can make more enlightened decisions, instead of developing in the dark.” says Hodent. “We’re not here to distort artistic vision or the designer’s intent; we’re here to help developers achieve their goals.”

Dan Staines is a freelance writer and academic with an unhealthy fascination with moral dilemmas and Deus Ex. You can read more of his stuff and listen to his terrible music at danstaines.com, and tweet at him @drstiz.